Here's a rough transcript I've thrown together:
How long have we known about this issue?
"We've only known about it for 10 days, and we've spent that 10 day period trying to gauge the effect on our visitors"
How did we reach this decision?
"Our risk management processes are necessarily robust... designed to make sure we are as safe as possible. There is definitely a requirement in the regulations to avoid the overflying of congested areas whilst conducting aerobatics... It was obvious to us that for the Red Arrows and the Typhoon, their display acts would go outside of the flying display area that the FDD has detailed to all participants, and would involve overflying a small area of Albrighton in aerobatics, that is completely unacceptable."
Where is the new axis?
"Broadly: centered just west of the western end of the runway... to the right of where the other acts will be flying. The display line will roughly follow the A464 road... We are closing that road for the duration of those displays, including the 17 tributary roads. The axis are rotated to 291 and 111 degrees."
"For this year the FDD has had to formally defined the display area and propagate that to all of the participants at this year's show... The regulations absolutely preclude aerobatic flying over congested areas, so there's no getting away from the fact that Albrighton is a congested area and therefore aerobatic flying over that area is forbidden... The MAA regulation that applies to this: "All flying displays shall be managed, organised and delivered in order to reduce the risk of life to at least tolerable and as low as reasonably practical"... So it was my decision, we engaged with the Red Arrows and the Typhoon, we couldn't fit them into our display area and we couldn't allow them to fly over Albrighton, and therefore we have shifted the display axis to protect that we can have full displays from those acts."
Why does this affect just the two premier RAF display acts?
"Our display area is set down and defined, all visiting acts and they will display within that display area, including the Italian Typhoon [his words not mine!] which has generated quite a few questions in this regard. The Italian Typhoon [again his words] will be cleared by the MAA but it has already confirmed that it can stay within that display area. It's just that the RAF Typhoon and Red Arrows are such dynamic and such high energy that we couldn't constrain them to that display area."
Why can't they change the nature of their displays?
"All acts have a PDA... To get that they have to be absolutely safe and adhere to all those regulations, the Typhoon and Red Arrows will do the same display at every location, they do not change the display because it is so complex and so high energy... The type of modifications that we would need them to do to then authorize that we're just pushing beyond that safety margin... Therefore we have moved the datum and the axis"
The biggest thing for me is that yes, this was a decision made by the Cosford team, and not the fault of those higher up within the RAF, I worry for what this means for the future of the show! There was also no real explanation as to why this has suddenly become an issue rather than last year (perhaps Peter may be able to clarify if he has time?) and by my rough calculations using the verbal description given, those at crowd centre are looking at an extended distance of 4-5x, and further for anyone to the east of that point - great for those in the Cosford Club(!)
Finally, are the Cosford team absolutely sure that we're getting the Italian Tornado and not a Typhoon? Because the chap giving the address that is responsible for the risk management, apparently doesn't know the difference